SCHOOLS
Catherine Needham, by her will
dated 1730, left to trustees lands and
tenements in Witchford, Wentworth, and
Downham; the White Hart Inn, Ely, together with a
cherry orchard; 12 acres in Further Middle Fen, Ely;
6 acres in Burnt Fen; a tenement in Newnham, Ely;
and a close of pasture, for the provision of a school
and school-house for Ely boys. In 1741 funds derived
from her estates amounted to nearly £900 and with
them school buildings, which still stand, were erected
in that year on Back Hill. (fn. 57) The scheme provided for
the teaching of English, writing, and accounts, for 8
hours daily, to 24 Ely boys, not under 8 years of age,
'born of poor parents'. The boys were not to remain
at school above 4 or 5 years. Surplus funds were to go
to the maintenance of the boys and to apprenticing them.
When the Charity Commissioners reported (1837)
the master was receiving a salary of £20 and his house,
and the boys still numbered 24, though in 1819 there
had been 36, some of them no doubt fee-payers. (fn. 58) By
1846-7 they had increased to 50, of whom 30 attended
both weekdays and Sundays. (fn. 59) In accordance with the
will of the foundress, the boys received a suit of clothes
every year, (fn. 60) and were, when leaving at 14 years,
apprenticed with a premium of £20; nothing, however,
was taught except reading, writing, and arithmetic. (fn. 61)
In 1872 the (uncertificated) master received a salary of
£55 a year. The school was enlarged to take nearly
150 boys, and by a revised scheme of the Charity Commissioners of 1909 the managers were authorized to
charge a fee of 6d. a week, reserving 25 per cent. of free
places, and to provide a modicum of higher education
in a 2-year course for boys of 12 years of age and upwards. At the same time the buildings were enlarged to
take, on the revised scale, 102 boys, and a science laboratory was provided. (fn. 62)
Efforts were made from time to time to convert the
school to secondary status, but it was considered that
secondary education was sufficiently provided for by the
King's School, the Girls' High School (1905), and
Soham Grammar School, to which boys from the south
of the Isle were admitted in return for similar facilities
for girls at Ely High School. The somewhat anomalous
position of Needham's School, intermediate between
primary and secondary, was rectified in 1933, when it
was enlarged to take 160 boys and all those of 11 years
and upwards in Ely were transferred to it. Shortly
before 1939 there were 115 boys on the roll, 45 from
outside the city. The school became a Secondary Modern school under the 1944 Act, but is handicapped by
its obsolescent, if picturesque, buildings. The trustees
still endow apprenticeships.
In 1813 the dean and chapter granted a building in
the College, formerly used by the King's School, (fn. 63) as a
school for 200 boys to be conducted in union with the
National Society. One of the lay clerks of the cathedral
was engaged as master. The corresponding girls' school,
which in 1813 held 20 children and was run in connexion with a Sunday school of 40 girls, was in 1814
moved to a room over the Shire Hall capable of accommodating 100. There was already a satisfactory mistress (fn. 64) who undertook to make herself familiar with the
'Madras system'. In 1816 there were 50 boys and 80
girls attending these schools, and £130 was subscribed
locally for their upkeep. (fn. 65)
In 1820 the Shire Hall was replaced by the present
building, and the girls were removed to a new school
in Market Street, towards the cost of which the National
Society granted £100. The boys remained in their
building in the College until the Silver Street schools
(see below) were erected in 1859. (fn. 66)
Progress was not very rapid. In 1820, when the new
girls' school was built, 500 Ely children were going
untaught, and a generation later (1846) the number
was no smaller. At the latter date about 650 to 700
children (in a total population of over 7,000) were
getting some kind of education, but half of the children
were at dame schools, of which there were said to be
some 20 in the city. (fn. 67)
At this period some of the National School children
were, like those at Needham's School, provided with
free clothing. Sums of £30 and £10 were appropriated
from Parsons's Charity for the boys' and girls' schools
respectively. (fn. 68) In 1851 70 of the 150 boys and 80 of
the 100 girls at the National Schools had free suits or
'cloaks, frocks, aprons, tippets and bonnets'. (fn. 69)
The next step forward was taken in 1859, when new
National Schools for boys and girls were built in Silver
Street at a cost of £2,577, about half of which was
subscribed locally. (fn. 70) This school has remained the principal primary school in Ely to the present time. The
buildings were enlarged by additional classrooms (1888)
and technical instruction rooms (1892 and 1901) and
accommodated 678 children in 1904, reduced to 538
(268 boys, 270 girls) after 1909. In 1933 it was reorganized for boys from 7 to 10 and girls from 9 to 14
(now 7 to 11 and 11 to 15 respectively). There were
(1949) 184 boys and 134 girls on the books. (fn. 71)
The Broad Street school was built in 1859 for infants,
and enlarged to 200 places by a new classroom in 1900.
The accommodation was scaled down to 177 in 1910.
Under the 1933 reorganization this school was allotted
to junior girls. There were 101 on the books in 1936,
increased in 1950 to 155, as the older girls were not
able to proceed to the Silver Street school owing to
congestion. A temporary hutted classroom was built
(1947) at Broad Street to accommodate them. (fn. 72)
The Market Street school, on the site of the old girls'
National School, was rebuilt as a mixed school for 135 at
a cost of £430 in 1868. (fn. 73) It was enlarged by the conversion of an adjoining house in 1886, and in 1910 was
an infants' school with 246 places. It has an awkward
site surrounded by higher buildings and has long been
due for closure, though it was re-equipped with new
desks and chairs in 1938 for £128. The average attendance in this year was 152. (fn. 74)
No provision was made in the city hamlets until the
middle of the 19th century. At Prickwillow, the largest
of them, a temporary mission church and school was put
up about 1855, but soon became unsafe owing to the
sinking peat soil. A permanent school with 150 places
was built in 1862-3 at a cost of £1,018 including a
teacher's house, to which £691 was subscribed locally
and £40 received from the National Society. The
building was enlarged in 1871 and at the turn of the
century accommodated 220 children, reduced in 1910
to 179 (130 mixed, 49 infants). It was reorganized as
a junior mixed and infants' school in 1945 and granted
controlled status in 1948. (fn. 75)
Prickwillow St. James (formerly Mildenhall Road)
School stands in a very isolated position, near Shippea
Hill Station but 8 miles from Ely city and 4 miles from
the nearest schools at Prickwillow village and Kenny
Hill over the Suffolk border. It was built in 1870 for
£926 (128 places, reduced in 1910 to 102). In 1932
a parish room known as the Burnt Fen Institute was
approved as temporary accommodation for an extra 40
children; the school was at that time overcrowded. (fn. 76)
In 1943 it became a junior mixed and infants' school
with 49 pupils, 12 boys and 11 girls aged 11 and more
being moved to Littleport. The teacher's house was
badly damaged in the great gale of 16 March 1947 and
the school accepted controlled status in that year. (fn. 77)
Stuntney School dates from 1864, when the National
Society granted £12 towards the total cost of £321.
The land was given by the dean and chapter. Originally
it held 60 children; in 1886 it was enlarged and in 1900
a teacher's house was built; the school now has 75 places
(51 mixed, 24 infants). It became a junior mixed and
infants' school in 1946, and a controlled school in 1950.
There were 32 children on the books in 1948, all present when the school was inspected; this school has a
long-standing reputation for high average attendance. (fn. 78)
A school was built at Chettisham in 1880 for 30
children at a cost of £479 including the teacher's house.
The National Society granted £42. It was enlarged in
1897 to take 48 children and closed in 1934, (fn. 79) when
only 21 children were on the books.
Adelaide Bridge School was built in 1872 for 64
infants and enlarged in 1885 (new classroom) to provide
82 places. In 1893 a teacher's house was built. It became a junior mixed and infants' school in 1935, and
in 1944 had 46 on the roll. Since 1950 it has been a
controlled school. (fn. 80)